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Volunteer Spotlight

Jeff Sandler’s class out on a SEED program with Save The Bay at Creekside Marsh in Marin.

Meet Jeff Sandler from Fairfax, a science teacher in Berkeley who brought his 7th grade class out to the shoreline to participate in Save The Bay’s SEED program. SEED — Students Engaging in Ecological Design — engages middle and high school students in the full restoration cycle.

How did you get involved with Save The Bay?

Years ago, I took my high school classes out on the Bay with the Canoes in Sloughs program. For the last three years, my middle school classes have been participating in the SEED program – where we help restore wetlands around the Bay. A great service learning opportunity!

Do you have a favorite site or experience?

I guess my favorite site is the Native Plant Nursery at the MLK Shoreline. Having the students’ work there – doing everything from re-potting seedlings to cleaning out old planting tubes and flats – gives them a great sense of accomplishment as they can literally do 100’s of these in a few hours. The students also get to “close the loop” on the whole restoration cycle. Working there shows us where the small plants in the tubes that we use for wetland restoration come from!

What other activities or hobbies do you enjoy?

Fishing, mountain biking, trail running, cooking

What is your first/fondest memory of San Francisco Bay?

Bringing my own children to the shore of the Bay to fish. Now that they are grown up, they still enjoy fishing and I’d like to think that their great patience and appreciation of the natural world is the result of all of those hours spent on the Bay.

Thomas Huffman and his Beta Alpha Psi brother’s working hard to restore the MLK shoreline.

Here at Save The Bay we rely on dedicated volunteers to accomplish big goals. Beta Alpha Psi, an academic fraternity from CSU East Bay, is one of our devoted groups that has come out again and again to help with our restoration efforts. Last month we were able to get to know Thomas Huffman, a Beta Alpha Psi member, group organizer, and recent graduate, a bit better and learn about his experience with Save The Bay.

Save The Bay relies on our volunteers to restore marsh habitat around the Bay, and some go above and beyond in their time and effort spent. When tasked to plant 20,000 native plants at Eden Landing Ecological Reserve, in sensitive habitat inaccessible to our large volunteer groups, three of our most dedicated volunteers were ready to help. Three “all-star” volunteers — Steven Russell, Steve Haas, and Sheldon Nelson — joined Save The Bay’s restoration staff in planting up to 1,500 plants a day in the field. Donating a full day of work, they not only provided physical labor, but great attitudes, humor, and camaraderie to the restoration team.

Steven Russell of Redwood City has been volunteering with Save The Bay for almost ten years! His favorite Save The Bay restoration site is Eden Landing Ecological Reserve because watching the restoration work throughout the site gives him great hope for the Bay’s future.

Steve Haas of Menlo Park has been a volunteer with Save The Bay for eight years, he enjoys returning to the many Save The Bay restoration sites to see the difference volunteers have made to establish native plants and remove invasive ones.

A San Ramon native, Sheldon Nelson has been a regular volunteer with Save The Bay for four years. His favorite site is Eden Landing Ecological Reserve because it is a beautiful place to work, and when the tide comes in he feels like he is standing in the middle of the bay.

Thank you Steven, Steve, and Sheldon for your dedication to Saving the San Francisco Bay! Visit www.savesfbay.org/volunteer to join our dedicated team of volunteers to help restore our Bay.

Save The Bay values the work and commitments of students. These eight freshmen from Fremont’s Irvington High School recently chose to focus on wetland restoration issues for a school project. Do you know a school or student group who’d love to get to work on the shoreline? Check out upcoming volunteer events.

How many times have you volunteered with Save The Bay?

4 times.

Do you have a favorite site?

Bair Island in Redwood City.

How did you get involved with Save The Bay?

The CHANGE project, which is the freshmen benchmark project at Irvington High School that deals with environmental issues.

What is the best thing about volunteering with Save The Bay?

The things we’re learning and the knowledge that we’re making a difference.